Iran initiates legal proceedings in Ukrainian plane crash case

Iran has launched legal proceedings on the fact of the crash of an aircraft of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) in the sky over Tehran in January 2020.

This statement came on January 8 from Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri, TASS reports.

"The tragic incident, as a result of which a Ukrainian passenger plane was shot down on January 8, 2020, deeply shocked both the people of the Islamic Republic and representatives of its authorities and armed forces. The court case on this incident has been opened and is at the trial stage" the Young Journalists Club agency quotes Bagheri as saying.

The head of the General Staff also stressed that the cause of the plane crash was "the special conditions prevailing in Iran in the field of security", as well as "an erroneous decision taken by the units of the defence department".

UIA flight PS752 (Boeing 737-800) crashed shortly after departure from Tehran Airport to Kyiv on January 8, 2020. Among the 176 dead were citizens of Afghanistan, Great Britain, Germany, Iran, Canada, Ukraine and Sweden. On January 11, the Iranian military announced that they shot down a Boeing flying near a military facility by mistake, mistaking the plane for an "enemy target". Tehran handed over to Kyiv a draft technical report on the causes of the crash. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it an attempt to hide the true causes of the disaster.